Anthony
Anthony is an old Childhood friend of Jeremiah Devitt. He lives in his family Mansion in Sussex and is married to Anna Beechworth. Both Devitt and Anthony went to a Boarding School in Scotland and were active in the same Philosophy Club as Jeremiah Devitt. Unfortunately Anthony and Jeremiah went their separate ways after graduation. After a long period of radio silence Devitt receives a Letter from Anthony. Devitt perceives this letter as a cry for help and sets out to help his childhood friend. Biography (by avec) At St. Gall boarding school, Anthony started a secret group that was interested in science and philosophy. Its members were Anthony, Jeremiah Devitt, Alexandre Du Pré, and probably Hugo Ashdown. Anthony later invited Father Ernest Glynn to join. Using a serum that Anthony made, they entered the Veil and saw the Simurg. In 1876, the school suddenly closed, possibly because of the group’s activities (Chapters 2 and 3). may have finished out the term, since [[Jeremiah Devitt|Devitt] appears in a graduation photo. On the other hand, according to Baldwin, the nearby villagers claim that the school closed over night.] The Four Witnesses seem to be strongly associated with this group. Some people have theorized that the Four Witnesses are Devitt, Alexandre, Hugo, and Ernest. There is some evidence for this, since Ernest said to Devitt, "Not one of them has returned. Only us, the four witnesses" (Chapter 2). However, I don't think that Ernest's statement should be taken to mean that Anthony did not enter the Veil. In a flashback, Devitt remembers Anthony saying, "Soon shall the door be open and then may we finally see what lies beyond" (Chapter 2). The fact that he said "we" could be taken to mean that all five people entered the Veil. It's possible that Anthony entered the Veil with the others, but he somehow did not "witness" the Simurg. But that seems uncharacteristic of Anthony. After the school closed, Anthony married Anna and they had a son. Their son appeared to be around 13 years old in 1891, so I'm guessing he was born around 1878. Anthony and Anna gave their son away to a friend (or a family member) to raise. We don’t know much about Anthony when he was a young man. People later said that Anthony had been a “stubborn mule” and a “mess of a man” during this time. His son said that he barely knew him because Anthony was too busy traveling (Collector’s Edition). Update: This is actually a description of Anthony's father, not Anthony himself. Anthony is next mentioned in 1887, when he located a copy of the “Hoopoe” formula that Lully Raymundus made in the 12th century. He and Alexandre used the formula to design a new serum for reaching the Last Door. Soon after, Alexandre entered a permanent trance. At some point, Anthony wrote Alexandre a letter saying, “Please, you must reflect on this. We do not yet know what we are dealing with. If you were to open the door it may stay that way. An open way for whatever lives in the other side!” The letter has no date and was never sent. I’m guessing that Anthony wrote it after August 23, 1887, but before October 12, 1887. On August 23, Anthony said that he wanted the research to continue. By October 12, Alexandre was in a trance and could no longer receive letters (Chapter 4). Perhaps Anthony wrote the letter, but then he received word of Alexandre’s condition and he decided not to send it. If he wrote the letter in 1887, maybe he spent the last years of his life opposing the Playwright and defying the Simurg. At least, until he went mad. In 1887, Anthony started collecting newspaper clippings that described mysterious deaths: a judge in 1887, an earl in 1888, and a famous actor in 1889 (Chapter 1). Cpt. Skidd said that the Playwright consisted of powerful people (Chapter 5). Maybe Anthony was keeping track of the members of the Playwright who died in the Veil. In 1891, Anthony went mad and took his own life. His madness seems to have been sudden and unexpected. In March 1891, Anthony’s servants first became worried about him. In May, a servant said that Anthony was “growing more and more unlike himself every day.” By October, his servants had quit, his doctor wouldn’t see him, his wife was terrified of him, and he eventually hanged himself. Just before he died, he wrote two letters to Devitt. In the first letter, he wrote “Videte ne quis sciat,” which Devitt interpreted as a request for help. In the second letter, he begged Devitt to secretly travel to St. Gall Hospital. He warned Devitt of danger, and said that “they” were already waiting for him (Chapter 1). When Devitt explored Anthony's basement, he found "a dark cloak, a mask and a knife" hidden behind cement (Chapter 1). Since the cement was still wet, I'm guessing that Anthony concealed these items just before killing himself. Perhaps he was a member of the Playwright, but he wanted to keep it a secret. The Beechworth theory (By Wolf14) In Beechworth's Wake, the young Anthony observes that his Father looks "(not) dead, but just asleep." Evidently, Anthony's father was obsessed with the "other side." What if he wasn't really dead at all, what if he had finally found his way to the other side and never looked back? As we see with Alexandre, when he is exploring the other side, he is in a trance in his wheelchair. It would be easy to mistake someone in the veil to be dead. So, if Anthony took his book log to Aberdeen, maybe he figured out that his father wasn't really dead and he was trying to find him. We see Anthony make friends with Jeremiah when he hears that he has no friends. It would be nice to believe that he was truly trying to be a good person, but what if he wanted to take advantage of Devitt and use his friends to help him find his old man's soul on the other side of the veil? Support 1. The Morgue: A coroner examines Father Ernest's body and finds a note revealing the names of the four witnesses, which you should know already. (Devitt, Glynn, and Du Pré, not including Anthony). The only one you wouldn't know is Hugo Ashdown, whose name is new. 2. Death Sentence: Baldwin gets hanged and he reveals his motives for what he did. ("'Releasing' them from their pain") 3. Wanderer in the Fog: Kauffman talks to a woman who survived the massacre at the boarding school and she tells him a really creepy story. If you want the full story, either watch it on youtube or PM me. (It's long) 4. Beechworth's Wake: This is the one I referred to. Basically, Anthony's father is dead and he talks to unknown people (supposedly family and friends) about what is to become of the fortune. It's all to be given to Anthony when he comes of age. But he gets one thing immediately; his father's log book. So basically it tells us that Anthony inherited his obsession with the other side and the veil from his family. As I said earlier, he describes his dying father as looking more asleep than dead. Category:Characters Category:The Letter